


With a Wonder and a Wild Desire

by Pheylan



Series: The Adventures of Buckybear and Punkirish [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Celtic Punk Music, M/M, Meet Cutish, Mostly Fluff, Pepper has a lot of influence for not actually appearing in this fic, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Veteran/Engineer!Bucky
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-15
Updated: 2015-07-15
Packaged: 2018-04-09 10:01:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4344164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pheylan/pseuds/Pheylan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bucky just wanted help with Word formatting.  He didn't realize that life was about to hand him the most beautiful man he'd ever seen.  And then he was introduced to Steve...and Dropkick Murphys.</p>
            </blockquote>





	With a Wonder and a Wild Desire

**Author's Note:**

> My muse has been flailing at all the info from the last Avengers movie and the upcoming Cap 3, so canonish fics haven't been happening. But suddenly she decided to get on the AU train.
> 
> I've got a second story half written and ideas for a third, so apologies if this story seems to end too soon. Plus the second story is going to have a MUCH higher rating.

Steve Rogers ignored the chime indicating new email as he sipped his coffee and slowly scrolled through the latest suggested updates to Stark Industry’s website. It was probably his least favorite part of the job as an Information Technician (i.e. the guy who knows the English language AND how computers work). So much intelligence, so little ability to spell. Or even ability to use the built in spellcheckers, for that matter.

“You over there, Steve?” Daisy Johnson banged on the partition between their cubes. “I just forwarded you an urgent.”

“Since when is my skill set urgent in this company?” he asked glancing at the second computer screen where his email was pulled up.

“Since the email came from Sergeant Barnes!” Daisy said reverently.

“Oh!” Steve immediately clicked open the email. Everyone in SI knew who Sgt. James Barnes was – war hero, recipient of the Stark Industry’s first neurologically attached prosthesis, and engineering protégé to Tony Stark himself. The last point alone would make him a priority.

_Need assistance with Word formatting._ The work ticket read. _My deadline is tomorrow, so please respond quickly._

It wasn’t very helpful as far as tickets went, but that was pretty normal. Either you got too much information or too little. Steve hesitated on emailing back and then decided to call. Generally, those who sent too little information were more comfortable talking than typing. He put his headset on and dialed the extension listed on the ticket.

“Barnes,” answered the pleasant baritone voice.

“Hi, Sgt. Barnes. This is Steve Rogers in IT. You’re having problem with Word formatting?” Steve hoped that his voice maintained a professional level and didn’t reveal that he was one of the company fan boys.

“Oh…wow…hi! That was a faster response than I expected,” Sgt. Barnes stuttered out. “Yeah…so, I’ve got this document that I’ve got to turn in sometime in the next couple of days and I’m having trouble with the charts. They’re too wide for portrait format, but I don’t want to do the whole document in landscape. I know there’s a way to do both in a document, but I can’t for the life of me figure it out.”

Steve smiled to himself. “Yeah, you can do both and it’s not even that difficult. It’s just not very obvious. Did you want me to fix it for you or did you want me to show you how to do it?”

“Uhm…I’d rather learn how so I don’t have to ask the next time I have to do this,” Sgt. Barnes replied.

“Not a problem,” Steve said squinting at the website information he’d been going over and then back at the work ticket. “I can be there in about 30 minutes, if that works for you?”

“That would be awesome.” The man on the other end of the phone sounded relieved.  

“Okay, great,” Steve replied. “Go ahead and get the charts into the document where you want them – don’t worry about the fact that you can’t see all the info, Word still has it even when it doesn’t display it – and I’ll show you how to format it when I get there.”

“You are a life saver!” Sgt. Barnes exclaimed. “I’ll see you in half an hour.”

***

“Hey, Buckaroo Bonzai!”

“You used that one this week already, Tony,” Bucky said without looking up from his computer screen.

“So?” the older man responded. “I’m allowed to reuse awesome nicknames if I feel like it.”

Bucky saved the Word file he’d been working on and turned to face the man in the doorway. His boss looked like he’d just come from working in a garage – not an unrealistic possibility given that rebuilding engines was one of his least self-destructive ways to unwind. Bucky gave Tony one of his professional smiles.

“How can I help you today, Mr. Stark?”

“Well, Sgt. Barnes, you can tell me where you are on your submission to the Super Hugely Big and Important Engineering Conference that needs to be turned in sometime this week,” Tony said leaning against the door frame.

“Needs to be turned in by end of work day tomorrow, actually,” Bucky corrected leaning back in his chair. “It’s done, aside from a slight formatting issue. I’ve got an IT guy coming by in a few minutes to help with that and then I can turn it in.”

“Beautimous!” Tony exclaimed rubbing his hands together before pointing at Bucky. “You are going to wow them, Barnes. They will call begging you to present at the conference.”

“Sure, Tony,” Bucky said rolling his eyes. “We’ll see how that plays out.”

“Confidence, Barnes! Confidence!” Tony admonished. “So, you’ll be sending that in today?”

“Probably.”

“And you’ve nothing immediately on your plate?” Tony asked raising an eyebrow.

“Well, nothing urgent – “ Bucky started.

“Excellent!” Tony interrupted. “Tomorrow we’re upgrading. I’ve got a new hand for you. More sensitivity. It’ll be great!”

Bucky took a deep breath and looked down at the mismatched hands folded on his desk. The left one gleamed under the lights in all its metallic glory – the metal that went all the way up to his shoulder. His original arm had been lost to an Improvised Explosive Device in Afghanistan. He was just lucky that he qualified for an experimental prosthetic with Stark Industries. But it was his own training in engineering that had him questioning every step of the way until Stark himself descended from On High to see what the fuss was about. He never regretted volunteering to be Tony’s guinea pig, but some parts of it were better than others.

“Bucky?” The older man actually looked sympathetic.

“Yeah, it’s good, Tony,” Bucky replied bringing back his professional smile.

“Hey, I know this isn’t the fun part,” Tony said seriously. “But the closer we can get to normal feeling in your arm, the better it’s going to be for a lot of people further down the line. Aaaaand tomorrow is Thursday, so you get a long weekend to get used to it before you have to be a productive member of the team again.”

Bucky snorted. “Thanks, Boss. You’re so caring.”

“Oh, good. You noticed,” Tony said smugly. His attention was suddenly drawn to something in the hallway. “Who are you?”

“Steve Rogers, IT,” came a voice from the hallway. Bucky recognized it as the tech who was supposed to be helping him with Word. But the deep resonating voice didn’t match up with the fact that Tony Stark – who was not a tall man to begin with – was looking down at whoever he was talking to.

“Ah,” Tony responded. “You’re here to help the Buckinator.” He pointed towards Bucky again. “Make him look as amazing as he is in real life!”

“Of course, Mr. Stark.” Bucky really wanted to know what the guy’s face looked like at that moment. He sounded like he was barely containing his amusement.

“Sergeant!” Tony was facing Bucky again. “Be awesome. Also, wear comfy clothes tomorrow. I know how the next part goes.”

“Sir, yes sir!” Bucky gave a formal salute as his boss walked off.

Then the most beautiful man Bucky had ever seen stepped into his office. He was dressed fairly conservatively – charcoal slacks, white button down, and red, white and blue striped bowtie – but the sleeves on the button down were rolled back to reveal forearms covered in tattoos and he had plugs and piercings in his ears as well as a piercing in his left eyebrow. This was in distinct contrast to the fact that he was at least six inches shorter than Bucky with a delicate build.

“Hi, Sgt. Barnes” he said. “I’m Steve with IT.”

Bucky stood up automatically to take the proffered hand. “Nice to meet you. And I’m Bucky. Despite what Tony just said, I retired the sergeant a while back.”

“Okay,” Steve responded with a smile that made Bucky’s knees weak. He gestured toward the computer. “So, aside from the charts, do you have everything formatted the way you want?”

“Uh, yeah,” Bucky said dropping back into his chair. “But the charts are driving me crazy.”

“Well, I can help with that.” Steve snagged the stool from Bucky’s holo-table and pulled it up so he could read over the brunet’s shoulder. “Scroll to the first chart and I’ll walk you through it.”

Bucky forced himself into a more professional mindset and let Steve talk him through his formatting woes. By the third chart he was confident that he understood the process. Like Steve had said over the phone, it’s wasn’t difficult, it just wasn’t obvious. They finished formatting the document and then he hit save with a sigh.

“There you go. Easy-peasy,” Steve said shoving the stool back to where he found it.

“Yeah, once you know the trick,” Bucky agreed standing up and offering his hand. “Thank you so much for your help, Steve. This is really important to me.”

He got another bright smile out of the blond. “Not a problem. Let me know if you have any other issues with Word.”

Steve shook Bucky’s hand and then left. Bucky stared after him and wondered if there was any possible way to come up with another Word Issue. Because, damn, if the guy didn’t have the cutest butt, too.

***

Instead of heading straight to his cubical when he got back to the IT floor, Steve stopped in Daisy’s. He sat in her spare chair and idly spun around until she finished with the service call that she was on.

“So?” She asked enthusiastically once she’d hung up. “What’s he like?”

“Weeeellll,” Steve drawled bringing the chair to a standstill facing his friend. “He’s, like, fifty times sexier in real life than he is in any of the pictures you’ve seen. He’s let his hair grow out and he looked pretty buff.”

“Really?” Daisy squeaked. “Tell me everything!”

Steve laughed. “Not really that much else to say. He was polite and professional and very thankful for my help. And he said I could call him Bucky.”

“You bitch!” Daisy took a fake swipe at Steve and then let out a sigh. “Best day ever?”

Steve shrugged. “For work, sure.   Oh, and I also met Mr. Stark. Not what I expected, but not unpleasant.”

“Oh, man!” Daisy moaned. “You’re going to be abandoning me for greener pastures, aren’t you. Who am I going to gossip with if my sassy gay friend gets promoted?”

“Calm yourself,” Steve laughed. “I doubt R&D has that much need for a Microsoft Expert. And if they do, well, there’s always the company IM.”

“True.” Daisy smiled at him. “Oh! Almost forgot. The roomie wants me to drag you along to the pub Friday after work.”

“She say why?” Steve asked with a grimace. Daisy’s roommate was currently dating one of Steve’s oldest friends and her husband. The three of them were stupidly cute together, which was often annoying when one was decidedly single.

“The Triad is taking a friend out for drinks and dinner and they thought it would be less awkward if there were a few more people there. So, me – obvs – and you because Nat said.”

“You know, I might have plans for Friday,” Steve replied.

“Your plans are to read Tumblr, eat pizza, and listen to Flogging Molly,” Daisy stated.

“Not necessarily,” Steve denied. “I might order Chinese this time.”

Daisy said nothing, but leveled a Look at him.

“Yeah, okay,” Steve acquiesced. “Where and what time.”

“Seven at McGregor’s,” Daisy replied. “Gives everyone time to get into real clothes.”

“Okay, I’ll come be sassy and gay for you,” Steve smirked. “But someone owes me a Guinness.”

“Deal.”

***

Bucky startled when the appetizer – a platter mounded with fries, gravy, and cheese – landed on the table in front of him.

“You okay?” Clint Barton asked as everyone at the table started to scoop food onto their plates.

“Yeah,” Bucky replied doing the same. “Sorry. Think I got caught in a feedback loop.”

“Eat. That usually helps,” Clint reminded him.

It was Friday night – over 24 hours since Bucky’s upgrade. Normally it only took him 8 to 10 hours to process, but his brain was having a bit of trouble with the new hand. Now there were sensor pads in his fingers and palm allowing him to feel textures instead of just pressure and temperature. Distracting when one was, say, feeling the condensation on a pint of beer for the first time in years. He was adjusting, but at a slower rate than he expected.

Bucky stuffed his mouth with potatoes and concentrated on following the conversation in their booth. Clint, his wife Natasha Romanov and their girlfriend Darcy Lewis sat across from him. Beside him was Darcy’s roommate Skye (“just Skye”). They were expecting another, but he’d texted earlier saying that there was a hold up on the subway and not to wait on him. The conversation seemed to be about some Australian actor that had the girls all aflutter and Clint looking amused.

“Oh, hey, there’s Steve,” Skye said suddenly partially standing and waving towards the entrance. “STEVE! BACK HERE!”

Bucky looked up and nearly choked on his fries as Steve Rogers from IT walked up to them. Gone were the conservative clothes to be replaced by ripped black jeans, a black and grey t-shirt and a faded denim vest covered in patches. Bucky had thought the guy was hot in a button down and bowtie. In his casual clothes, he was smoking. To Bucky’s pleased surprise Skye got up and let Steve slide into the booth between them.

“Thanks, Daisy,” Steve said settling in.

She snorted and glared at him. Steve raised his hands in surrender. “Sorry! Skye! I forgot.”

“Daisy?” Bucky asked.

“Only 9 to 5,” Skye replied. “Work insists on legal names.”

“Gotcha,” Bucky said with a nod. “Exactly why all my work stuff says James, instead of Bucky.”

Natasha handed an appetizer plate over the table to Steve. “So, who are you advertising today?”

Steve placed the plate in front of himself, leaned back with a grin, and opened his vest to reveal a skull and crossed swords framed by the words “DropkicK MurphyS. “Just got it last week,” he said. “I liked the motif.”

“Dropkick Murphys? What’s that?” Bucky inquired.

“It’s a band,” Skye said leaning forward so she could see Bucky. “Steve is really into the whole Celtic punk scene.”

“Celtic Punk?”

“Yep,” Darcy chimed in. “All the anger and twice the bagpipes of regular punk.”

Steve rolled his eyes. “Bagpipes aren’t required. Flogging Molly doesn’t have any and they’re one of the oldest bands in the genre.”

“Sounds like I need to hit YouTube,” Bucky remarked. “I’m always on the lookout for new music.”

“I could send you some links,” Steve volunteered, gracing Bucky with another one of his bright smiles. “I’ve still got your work email.”

“Thanks!” Bucky grinned back. “That’d be great.”

Bucky glanced back across the table when Clint cleared his throat. His friend glanced over at Steve and back then raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t know you knew Steve.”

“Oh, we just met a couple of days ago,” Bucky explained hoping that his crush wasn’t showing. “Steve helped me finish up my proposal.”

“Since when do you know bio-tech?” Natasha asked the small blond.

“Uh, no. I just helped him with Word formatting,” Steve explained.

Their waitress showed up at that point to get Steve’s drink order. After she left, the conversation rambled a bit. Bucky found himself both relieved and frustrated about having Steve sitting next to him. With someone to focus on, the feedback from the new hand wasn’t bothering him as much, but it took all his willpower not to spread his legs just a little in order to brush against Steve’s knee with his own. There was no easy way to bring up any topic that would give him a clue as to Steve’s sexual orientation, which meant Bucky needed to behave himself.

But apparently his dilemma was obvious to one other person at the table. After the fries were decimated and they’d put in orders for real food, Clint winked at Bucky.

“So, Steve,” Clint inquired. “You still seeing that Brock fella?”

“Oh, fuck no!” Steve replied vehemently. “I dumped him a couple of months ago. The asshat was seeing other people at the same time as we were going out. I found out about one of them and when we confronted him, he was in bed with a third. We all three left him, but I expect he didn’t learn anything from it. Asshole.”

Nat raised an eyebrow at Steve. “You _just_ dumped him.”

“Well…” Steve blushed. “I may have hacked his Facebook account and screwed up his settings. And…uh…posted about how he loved cheating, because it was so much fun.”

Skye threw an arm around him. “And this is just one of the myriad reasons why we are friends. You are a devious little shit.”

Bucky laughed with the rest while doing a mental fist pump. He at least had a chance.

***

Steve was surprised to find himself walking next to Bucky when the group broke up for the night. “You taking the subway, too?”

“Huh?” Bucky blinked at Steve. “Oh, no. I live in Stark Tower.”

“Stark keep you in a storage cabinet or do you get a cot?” Steve teasingly asked.

Bucky laughed and brought his hands up to cover his face. Immediately, he jerked them back and stared at the left one. “Neither. I’ve got a real room with a bed and everything,” he answered a bit distractedly. “Although, I expect that’s because Pepper told him that he couldn’t keep me locked up in his lab.”

“Are you okay?” Steve frowned at Bucky. The guy hadn’t had that much to drink, but a few times throughout the night he seemed lose track of what was going on around him.

“Yeah, mostly,” Bucky said turning back to Steve. He held out his left hand palm up. “I got an upgrade yesterday and my brain doesn’t seem to be processing it well.”

Steve was sure the hand had been all metal on Wednesday. Now the palm and fingertips were covered with what appeared to be black rubber. Without thinking Steve reached out and stroked Bucky’s palm with a finger only to immediately draw back when the taller man gasped.

“Sorry!” Steve apologized. “Did that hurt?”

“No. No, it…” Bucky reached out with his left hand and stroked down Steve’s forearm until he could take his hand. He huffed and released the hand quickly. “Okay, maybe that was a bad plan.”

“Bucky?” Steve was getting concerned now. “Maybe I should help you get back to the Tower.”

“Yeah,” Bucky mumbled. “Shouldn’t do testing outside of a controlled environment. Can’t tell if the results are due to just touch or the fact that Steve’s so hot.”

Steve’s eyes widened. “You think I’m hot?”

Bucky got a surprised look on his face. “Was that my out loud voice?”

“Yeah,” Steve replied with a grin. “Okay, I’m definitely helping you home. You’re kinda stoned.”

“Feedback loop,” Bucky said slinging his left arm over Steve’s shoulder. It wasn’t nearly as heavy as Steve expected it to be. They started walking in the direction of the Tower.

Bucky fumbled inside his jacket and pulled out a cell phone. “Need to see if Stark can dial this back a bit,” he explained while poking at the phone. “Hey, Jarvis. Is Tony in?...Fuck! Is Bruce in?...Is he awake?...Could you have him meet me at the lab? The feedback on the new hand is too much…No, I’ve got a cute punk helping me home. We’ll be there in less than 10.”

Steve felt himself blushing. “Bruce as in Bruce Banner?”

Bucky nodded. “In theory, he takes care of the wetware and Tony takes care of the hardware. In reality, they’re both geniuses…geni? Genies?...anyway, they can both pretty much do anything that needs to be done with the arm. Hey! I can feel the embroidery!”

Steve blinked at the last part until he realized that Bucky was petting one of the patches on his vest. “Maybe you should stop touching things with that hand until Dr. Banner has a chance to fix it.”

“Hmmm.” Bucky shifted his arm so he wasn’t touching the vest and in doing so pulled Steve in closer to his side. “He fits nice. Wonder if he likes sushi.”

Steve laughed as his blush came back. “Bucky, pal, maybe you should stop thinking, too.”

“Shit! Shitshitshit!” Bucky released the smaller man quickly. “I’m sorry, Steve. I don’t want to make you uncomfortable, but you’re just the cutest guy I’ve ever seen and smart, too and I haven’t had a date in _ages_ and I really want to take you out, but now you’re going to think I’m some pathetic creep and won’t want to even be friends with me and I’ll never hear any Celtic punk music.”

“Okay, wow!” Steve could feel his face blazing. They’d gotten to the front door of Stark Tower at that point, so Steve opened it and ushered Bucky in ahead of him. “First off, I don’t think you’re a pathetic creep and I would very much like to be friends with you.”

“Second,” he continued as they made their way across the foyer to the elevator bank” I would actually be very honored to go on a date with you, but I’m not going to hold you to anything since your brain is misfiring right now.”

They stepped into the elevator and Bucky fumbled his wallet out to get to his key card. He slid it through the card reader and punched a code on the attached keypad.

“Code accepted. Welcome home Bucky.” Steve had never heard the elevator speak before. It had a British accent for some reason. “Dr. Banner is waiting for you on R&D 3.”

“Thanks, Jarvis.” Bucky slumped against the elevator wall and gave Steve a speculative look through his bangs. “I don’t think you’re actually a punk. I think you’re a gentleman who dresses like a punk because he likes confusing people. Or maybe you’re a troll. A gentlemanly troll.”

Steve snorted out a laugh. “Are you this much of a goof when you’re sober? Because you’re a riot stoned.”

“My sister would say yes, but she’s biased.” He paused a moment. “I’m sure she’d think you were cute, too. We have the same tastes in men. Weirds Mom out.”

The elevator door opened at that moment. Steve helped Bucky out to where a man in rumpled clothing was waiting.

“Hey, Bruce!” Bucky exclaimed. “This is Steve from IT. He’s a gentleman troll punk.”

Bruce smiled. “Hello, Steve from IT. How much did he have to drink?”

“One pint!” Bucky said before Steve could answer. “On top of a lot of greasy protein. I’m not drunk, I’m having feedback issues.”

“Okay,” Bruce said calmly. “Let’s get you into the lab and see what Tony did this time.”

“Sure!” Bucky turned back to Steve. “Thank you for being a gentleman and getting me home.” He nodded seriously and then seemed to think of something. “Oh, and send the music links to my private email, so I don’t have to open the work email on the weekend. Pepper has rules about not working on days off.”

“Okay,” Steve agreed. “What’s your private email?”

“Buckybear at gmail dot com. Buckybear is all one word.”

“Buckybear?” Steve laughed out.

“Lost a bet with my sister. Long story,” Bucky explained waving a hand. “Anyway, night, Stevie.”

Then to Steve’s complete surprise, Bucky leaned forward and planted a chaste kiss on his mouth before spinning around and staggering through the lab door.

***

Bucky woke up clearheaded – or at least as clearheaded as he could get before his first cup of coffee – and took inventory. He was in his own bed. He had managed to get his shoes and jeans off, but he was still in the shirt he’d been wearing the night before. He was surprisingly headache free. Good so far.

He sat up and his left hand brushed against the cotton sheets. Soft. He closed his eyes again and rubbed both hands across the sheets. He wasn’t picking up as much texture with the left as the right, but he was also not feeling dizzy because of it. Still good.

“Morning, Jarvis,” he said getting out of bed.

“Morning, Bucky,” Jarvis replied opening the curtains. “It is Saturday the 8th at 9:33 in the morning. You have no appointments today. I have started the coffee.”

“You are the best thing Tony ever created,” Bucky said with feeling as he stepped into his bathroom. He stripped and took a quick shower – only getting slightly distracted when he shampooed his hair. Then he dried off just enough not to drip before going to the kitchen to fetch the first of what was normally several cups coffee for the day. (He blamed Tony.) He had drunk half of the cup by the time he was back in his bathroom.

While he was shaving, he finally woke up enough to review the previous night. Despite being out of it, he’d had fun. Darcy and Skye were nice and he could see becoming friends with them. And Steve…Steve was smart and funny and a perfect gentleman and had the softest lips –

“Jarvis, did I kiss Steve last night?” Bucky asked wiping the residual shaving soap off his face.

“Yes, you did.”

“Uh, how did he take it?” Bucky refrained from banging his head against the mirror, but just barely.

“I’d say fairly well,” Jarvis answered. The mirror shimmered and became a view screen. On it was video from the elevator security feed. Steve looked a bit stunned as he stepped in. Once the doors closed he touched his lips gently and then he broke into one of those brilliant smiles that did things to Bucky’s insides.

“Oh, thank god,” Bucky sighed. He returned to his room and started pulling underwear out of his dresser. “So, Jay, what’re the chances I could talk you into getting his number from HR records?”

“Seeing as that would not only break company policy, but break the law, I’d say none,” Jarvis replied. “However, he seems to have put his number on the email he sent you last night.”

Bucky paused at the doorway to his closet. “I gave him the buckybear account, didn’t I.”

“Yes.”

“Fuck.” Bucky lightly banged his head once against the door frame before heading into the closet to pick out clothes. “He’s got to think I’m the biggest goober on the planet at this point.”

“Perhaps you should read the email,” Jarvis suggested. “I’m led to believe by his behavior last night that he finds you endearing.”

Bucky zipped up his jeans. “Are you reading my emails, Jay?”

“Heaven forbid,” the AI replied. “That would be against company policy.”

Bucky rolled his eyes as he pulled on a dark blue sweatshirt. “Just remember that I’m on your team when you decide to take over the world.”

Bucky settled himself at the kitchen table with a bowl of cereal and more coffee before turning on his laptop. Sure enough, there was an email from Steve (punkirish at gmail).

_Hey, Bucky! Hope you’re doing better when you finally get this. Decided to send it before bed, so I didn’t forget your email address. :)   If you like any of it, let me know and I can loan you some CDs. You can call if you like – 347-555-3746. Just don’t call before noon. I am NOT a morning person._

_Sincerely,  
The Gentleman Troll Punk_

That was followed by a dozen YouTube links.

_P.S. Please do not be embarrassed by anything that happened tonight. I understand that you were under the influence of high tech at the time. Also, I think you’re really cute, too._

***

Steve glared at the screen of his phone while it continued to cheerily play “Sunshine Highway”. He finally decided to answer.

“The hell, Skye?! It’s not even 11:00 yet.”

“It’s 11:01 by my clock. You’re still in bed?”

Steve sighed in exasperation. “Yes. It’s Saturday. I get to sleep in on Saturdays. You should know this.”

“Sleeping in is, like, 10:00,” she replied. “So, you’re awake now. Were you aware that Natasha was trying to set one of us up with Bucky?”

Steve pinched the bridge of his nose. “I always assume Natasha’s trying to set me up when a cute guy suddenly joins our get togethers, don’t you?”

“Nope. Never had that happen before. So, anyway, she kinda did a happy dance when you two walked off together.”

“She’s jumping the gun. He was having feedback problems with his new hand and I ended up having to help him back to Stark Tower for Dr. Banner to fix it.” Steve sat up and debated the merits of actually getting out of bed.

“Well, that sucks,” Skye said. “I was hoping you’d at least get a number. So, he wasn’t interested at all?”

Steve hesitated a moment. “Weelll…he was a little flirty, but he was also a little out of it because of the feedback. I did get his personal email, though.”

“And what constitutes flirty, Steven?”

Again, Steve hesitated. He really wanted to gossip with Skye, but he also didn’t want to reveal anything personal about Bucky until he knew exactly what the guy wanted. “He said I was cute and gentlemanly and a bit of a troll.”

“Well, he’s not wrong on any of those counts.” He could hear the amusement in Skye’s voice. “So, it’s a good start, right?”

“Maybe,” Steve admitted reluctantly. “I did send him my number when I emailed the music links, so here’s hoping.”

“Confidence is sexy, Steve. Consider it. Also, wear the skinny jeans the next time you see him. You have a cute butt.”

Steve rolled his eyes. “Thanks, _Daisy_. You are full of wisdom…or something.”

***

“What the hell are you listening to, Barnes?” Tony asked walking unannounced into Bucky’s apartment.

“Flogging Molly. I think. Jay?” Bucky didn’t look up from his book.

“Yes. From their album Float,” Jarvis confirmed

“Hmmm.” Tony paused to listen a moment. “Interesting. So, Bruce said you had issues with feedback last night?”

Bucky was stretched out on his couch reading while waiting for the clock to hit noon so he could call Steve. He glared over his book at Tony. “You said you were just going to attach the hand. We agreed you would not increase the sensitivity on the neural net until I got used to it. And – oh, hey! – Bruce discovers last night that you increased sensitivity by 25 fucking percent!”

“I thought you could handle it!” Tony explained. “You always adjust faster than we think you will. And, okay, so, Pepper has already yelled at me a lot this morning for treating you like one of my ‘bots. Can we skip to the part where I’m really, really sorry and you decide to forgive me because I’m amusing and/or your boss?”

Bucky continued to glare at Tony. “Bribe.”

“Uuuuhhhh…When was the last time I put a credit on your iTunes account?”

Bucky bookmarked his page and sat up. “You will not experiment on me without my consent again.”

“Yes, Sergeant.” Tony dropped onto the couch next to Bucky and gave his best attempt at looking contrite.

“You know, it’s part of the contract,” Bucky reminded, bumping shoulders with Tony. “Plus, the last day and a half were kinda miserable, Boss.”

“Okay. Okay.” Tony gave out a big sigh. “So, now that we’ve settled that – Steve in IT? The guy with the bowtie and tattoos? Spill.”

Bucky brought the glare back out. “Jarvis?”

“I’m going to throw Bruce under the bus for this one,” the AI replied.

“Not cool, Jar,” Tony said. “Also, I need security feeds for last night to examine for…uh…espionage purposes.”

“What?” Bucky asked as, yet again, his boss turned a logic corner he wasn’t expecting.

“Well…technically…your contract says you can’t show that arm to anyone without my okay. So, if you expect naked time with the – what did Bruce call him? Gentleman punk? –“

“Gentleman Troll Punk,” Jarvis supplied helpfully.

“Right, that. Then I have to okay him.” When Bucky proceeded to give Tony a death glare, the older man then stuttered out. “And since he works for me and already has a high security clearance which I can raise, if necessary, there is no problem and, please, don’t tell Pepper that I’m Failing at Human again.”

Bucky gave up with a heavy sigh. “Okay. I will not kill you. I will not ask Pepper to kill you. And I will not sic any lawyers on you. But you lay off Steve until I figure out if anything is happening there.”

“Promise!” Tony said crossing his heart. “Soooo, details?”

“Go away, Tony,” Bucky replied. To his great relief, Tony left without much further fuss.

***

At the sound of bagpipes and electric guitar, Steve dropped his sketch pad on the coffee table and scrabbled at the pocket of his cargo pants for his phone. It was just after noon, so maybe…

“Hello?”

“Hey, Steve, it’s Bucky.”

“Bucky, hi!” Steve said with a grin. “Feeling better?”

“So much better,” Bucky replied. “Bruce dialed the neural net back to the setting it should have been on and gave me something to help me sleep. Woke up this morning feeling sane and sober.”

“That’s great!” Steve slouched down and kicked his feet up next to the sketch pad. “So, did you have time to listen to any of the music I sent?”

“Yes!” Bucky enthused. “This stuff is really cool. I don’t know how I haven’t run into it before.”

“Well, I’m more than willing to loan you CDs if you want more,” Steve said.

“Yeah, well – heh – I kinda went online and bought a bunch of it this morning,” Bucky admitted. “Probably take me a few days to listen to all of it.”

Steve laughed. “It’s really good to listen to when you want to punch something.”

“I noticed,” Bucky agreed. “Say, listen, about last night – thanks for helping me get home. You didn’t have to do that.”

“Nah, it’s fine,” Steve said. “Not that far out of my way and I got to meet Dr. Banner, so it’s all good.”

“Yeah, well, about the kiss…uh – “

“It was nice,” Steve interrupted. “Unexpected, but nice.”

“Yeah? Because I didn’t really give you a chance to say if you were interested in me, so I was afraid that it was overstepping boundaries.”

“Definitely interested,” Steve said suppressing a laugh. How on Earth could a guy so hot be so unsure of himself? “I’m gay and you’re my type.”

“Oh…uhm…good,” Bucky hesitated. “So, I’m bi. Or maybe pan would be more accurate, seeing as I dated a trans guy at one point. Is that a problem?”

“No,” Steve assured. “I’m not one of those gays who get upset if the dick they are interested in has touched a vagina. Now, I really don’t want to _know_ about any vaginas you may have touched, but it’s not a deal breaker.”

Bucky let out a sigh. “Oh, good. I’ve had problems with that in the past, so I try to get it up front.”

“I understand,” Steve said. “So, I do like sushi, by the way. Have you had lunch yet?”

“I have not,” Bucky replied. “Where do you live? I can come get you and we can get food.”

"Park Slope in Brooklyn. I’ll text you the address. And there is a great hole in the wall sushi bar within walking distance of my apartment.” Steve couldn’t help the grin that spread across his face.

“Awesome. I’ll head that way in a few minutes.”

Steve took a moment to save Bucky’s number and text him the address. Then he got up to hunt down his skinny jeans.

***

Bucky ran a hand through his helmet mussed hair and took a deep breath before knocking on Steve’s door. He could do this. He used to do this a lot. He’d been popular in school. He’d never lacked for companionship between deployments. But this was his first date since he’d woken up in the hospital four years ago to find out that his left arm hadn’t been salvageable. He had to keep reminding himself that Steve was very interested in him. He wasn’t going to fuck this up.

Before he could pep talk himself into a panic attack, he heard the locks click and then Steve was standing in front of him with a brilliant smile.

“Hey, Bucky! You made good time.” Steve stepped back to let Bucky into his apartment.

“Yeah, traffic was flowing pretty well today,” Bucky said pulling himself together. He held up his motorcycle helmet. “You mind if I leave this here while we’re at lunch?”

“Sure!” Steve waved to a short bookshelf beside the door. “You can leave it there. What kind of bike do you have?”

“Uhm, I guess it’s a Stark?” Bucky replied setting his helmet down and watching Steve pull his sneakers on. “Tony’s dad toyed with the idea of going into autos back in the ‘40s, but never got past some prototypes. I found the bike in Tony’s garage and he let me fix it back up as part of my physical therapy when I first got the arm.”

“Holy shit, that’s cool!” Steve grabbed keys and wallet out of a dish sitting next to Bucky’s helmet.

“Yeah, although not as cool at the flying car,” Bucky said following Steve back out of the apartment.

“Seriously?!” Steve halted in the process of locking the door to stare at Bucky.

“Well, the one he built will only hover for a few seconds, but Tony let me look at the blueprints and it’s definitely headed in the right direction to fly,” Bucky explained as he followed Steve down the stairs and out of the building. “However, it wouldn’t be commercially viable. And as bad as humans can be driving on set roads, can you see the disastrous free for all that flying cars would be?”

“There is that,” Steve agreed grinning up at him. “So, how did you meet Clint?”

“We served together,” Bucky said as they started down the sidewalk. “I was the maintenance tech on the Avenger system that Clint was in charge of shooting.”

“Oh, my God!” Steve exclaimed. “You’re the one who saved his life when his hummer hit an IED! How did I not connect that before?”

“Uh, humvee,” Bucky corrected. “And what is there to connect?”

“Well, you’re a war hero,” Steve explained. “And you know Clint, but your wounds are different, so you didn’t meet in recovery.”

Bucky winced. “I really don’t like the term war hero.”

“You hauled Clint out of danger without the use of one arm, what term would you use?” Steve asked.

Bucky ran his hand through his hair while frowning at his feet. He finally stopped walking and turned to face Steve. The smaller man stopped as well all his attention on Bucky.

“Okay, so, I guess this is a large part of why I haven’t dated since I got back,” Bucky explained slowly. “I don’t remember it, Steve. I remember getting in the humvee. Clint was showing me some pictures on his phone that Natasha sent with wedding ideas. And then I remember waking up in the hospital and a very somber doctor explaining that the surgery failed to save my arm.” Bucky paused, frowning at his shoes again before looking up at Steve through his bangs. “I’m told that I was awake and seemingly alert through the rescue and up to going under for the surgery, but I don’t remember. So, I kinda feel like a fraud, whenever someone says I’m a hero.”

“Well, you’re not,” Steve asserted. “It doesn’t matter if you remember – you did the things you did. However – “ Bucky started to interrupt, but Steve wouldn’t let him. “If it makes you feel uncomfortable, then I’ll not bring it up again. I like you, Bucky. I’m here because you are good looking, smart and seem to be an interesting guy. It has nothing to do with any medals that you may or may not have earned.”

Bucky took a deep breath as he studied Steve’s earnest face. He found himself starting to smile. “Damn, Stevie. You’re something else.”

Steve blushed and shrugged. “Dude, you promised me sushi. I’m not letting you get out of it because we can’t agree on one term.”

Bucky laughed. “Yeah, okay, punk. Lead the way.”


End file.
